Guess what? I’m HORRIBLE at keeping secrets. Which is why I’m amazed that I actually pulled off a huge surprise this past weekend!!

You know how I said in my last post that I was going to spend some time with family? Ummm, that was only a little lie. I do consider the newly-engaged Nette family. But what Miss Bride-to-Be did not know was that I’d been scheming with her friend Pearl for over a month (pretty much since the weekend Nette got engaged) to fly in and be there for her engagement party. Which was this past weekend.

AND I DID IT!

Pearl was an absolute gem and was totally willing to be in on the fun. She agreed to be my airport pick-up and helped coordinate the day of my arrival and the big reveal, bless her. Couldn’t have done it without her!

I could barely sleep the night before the trip, I was so excited! I got to the airport and to my gate in good time and we boarded the plane with no issues. Until we got on the tarmac and just before takeoff, the pilot found a malfunction with a light that was connected to a small part on the wing. The part that helps bring you down once you’re up in the air. Yeah. We weren’t taking off till that got fixed. Pro – we didn’t have to deboard or get re-booked on another flight. Con – we had to sit on the plane an extra 2.5 hours before we took off on our 5 hour flight. OY. Side note: there were TWO baby girls under the age of 1, who were absolute angels for those very long 7.5 hours stuck inside a metal tube. Bless them. And bless their parents.

I kept in touch with Pearl through the delays, but we weren’t planning the reveal until later that night anyway so all was well. The only adjustment we had to make was that instead of Pearl having Nette come to her house under the guise of needing help unloading the rented tables for the party… Nette wanted to go work out. What?? Awesome. I had packed gym clothes anyway, so Pearl and I changed at Pearl’s work and headed to the gym at 5:30.

Riding in the car with Pearl on the way to the gym, Nette was texting us BOTH! She told me she hoped my family behaved themselves on our vacation, so I knew for sure she was still absolutely in the dark on the plan. She was telling Pearl how bad the workout was going to suck. Pearl and I were beyond excited!!! When we arrived, Pearl got Nette’s exact location by text and off we went to meet her at the ellipticals.

You guys? It was perfect. Pearl went around the front of the row of machines, while I scooted across two rows behind her. While Pearl stood in front of Nette saying hi (and sneakily videoing the whole thing!), I snuck up through the rows and onto the elliptical machine right beside Nette without her even noticing. I was grinning as I started pedaling on the machine, just staring holes in the back of Nette’s head trying to get her to look over! Finally Pearl did one of the pointed head-turn-look-that-way in my direction. She looked.

And then she flipped. I think her reaction face was bug-eyed-jaw-drop, then she blurted out “Fuckin’ A!!”, then she swatted my arm and said, “Whatareyoudoinghere???”. I just grinned and said, “Surprisssssse!”.

We managed to not break our legs getting off the elliptical and she grabbed me in a bear hug and picked me up in a big squeeze. The next few minutes were a blur of so much laughing and yep… then we both started to leak a little. We were both watery, laughing about how she was just texting me about the family and she couldn’t believe I was here. And then, holy shit, I spotted the ring that I hadn’t seen up close yet so of course the tears started back up again. I noticed that the people on the treadmills were staring and smiling, probably wondering what in the world was going on with the lesbian reunion up there. Whatever.

Oh man. I still can’t believe we pulled it off! Needless to say, the rest of the weekend was amazing. We worked out that night and went home so I could love all over my furry nephew, Cooper!

We broke out the champagne and Ghirardelli and stayed up till 1:30am catching up.

The next morning we indulged in a pedicure, but went early – there was much prepping to do for the party!

Pearl and the groom’s Mom had already done much of the work, but certainly needed extra hands. We put together mini-caprese sticks, cut fruit, assembled salmon and lox mini-bagels, wrapped asparagus in prosciutto, melted chocolate and got it everywhere, set up tables and loaded coolers and made many trips to the store. But come party time, it was all worth it! Pearl’s home was the best venue – spacious, gorgeous, plenty of counter room and a big backyard for games and extra seating. In all, there were probably 50-60 people in attendance that night, which is only a bit smaller than the actual wedding number – add some +1s and some out of towners and that’s it!

My heart was so full for Nette, seeing how happy she and Mike were to have all their closest friends and family come out to celebrate their big news. The toasts were heartfelt with just enough humor to keep it honest. The food options were perfect and the biggest hits will most likely be recreated for the wedding. Although, we did learn that 10 pounds of fruit is too much. Way too much. Good lawd. The champagne and white wine went the fastest (note for the wedding, Nette!), which probably explains the happy feeling that washed over the whole night. It’s impossible to be an angry drunk on bubbly!

and maybe a shot or two of Tequila. In the garage.

The day after the party Nette and I went to Starbucks, sat on the patio on a gorgeous morning, drank our venti-iced-quad-shot-light-white-chocolate-mocha-latte-no-whips (there’s NO way I got that right, Nette HELP!) and talked about plans for dress shopping, a shower, and the bachelorette party. It was perfect and as it should be.

That afternoon, I joined Nette at Mike’s family Father’s Day gathering, where we had such an amazing dinner that I let them all know that Nette was a package deal. Then we stopped by Pearl’s house on the way to the airport for dessert – the homemade cheesecake we “forgot” to put out at the party. And with a full belly and last hugs to to gorgeous Pearl, off Nette and I went. We were messes at the passenger dropoff. AGAIN with the leaking. Next thing I knew, I was on my plane at 10:30pm PST with a landing time of 6am EST Monday morning.

Whew.

But y’all? I think it’s safe to say the the surprise went off without a hitch and that the weekend is one that none of us will forget. Happy Engagement, Nette!

10 Responses

How fun! Great job on the surprise. Once my dad flew me home to surprise my mom and he hid me in a giant box. And when I popped out she totally knocked me out of it onto the floor and my dog bit me. Epic.